choise and better than ordinary begins to be authoriz'd in the Schools of the most zealous Peripateticks who no longer oppose the Truth that you have insus'd into them but only so husband Aristotle's Stake as it may not be said that ever any Philosopher had a clearer View than he You know the Adventure of the last Age in France the wisest Heads of the Kingdom could do no otherwise than approve the greatest Part of the Regulations made in the Council of Trent notwithstanding there were Reasons that obstructed the adhereing to that Couuncil on Discipline-account What was done The States of Blois made Ordinances exactly like a great Part of the Decrees of that Council Thus without admiting the Council they follow'd in effect the Purport of it The Peripateticks have in some sort transcrib'd the Conduct of those grave Politicians 'T is a Crime among them to be a Cartesian but 't is an Honour to make good Use of the best Part of M. Descartes And to compare the Fortune of your Doctrin with that of another that in our Days hath made such a Bustle in the World before the Propositions of Iansenius had been condemn'd at Rome his Followers highly complimented him upon them His was the Pure and Uncorrupt Doctrin that was copied from the great S. Augustin but they had no sooner been censur'd as Heretical but they vanish'd in a Trice and could not be found in Iansenius his Book No one could heartily believe they ever had been there and in Spight of Bulls of Popes and Ordinances of Bishops 't was reckon'd a Mortal Sin to sign a Condemnation of Propositions and a Form of Faith without the Distinction of De Iure de Facto The quite contrary happen'd in the Affair I am speaking of At first when the Cartesians made Mention of Subtil Matter and ridicul'd the Horror of a Vacuum talk'd of the Elastick Vertue of the Air the Pressure of its Columns and the manner of the Impression of Objects on our Senses Aristotle was brought to confront them with a quite contrary Doctrin Since that Time upon Examination of the Reasons on which your Propositions in those Instances depended they would not say that you were in the Right but many undertook to affirm That Aristotle had taught the greatest Part of that before you There hath been since discover'd in his Writings an Ethereal Matter the manner of Sensations by the Concussion of the Organs the Demonstration of the Gravity of the Air and the most delicate Truths of the Equilibrium of Liquors So instead of the Iansenists abandoning or seeming to abandon the Right and sheltering themselves under the Fact the Peripateticks fall on Possession of the Right by the Fact itself that is the Peripateticks now find in Aristotle what according to themselves had not been visible for these thirty Years On the contrary the Iansenists have lost Sight of the Propositions they had pointed to us heretofore themselves before they were condemn'd So that would you make any Abatements as I hope you will that I may make good my Promise I made Voetius your Old Friend in Holland we should see M. Descartes turn Peripatetick and Aristotle Cartesian The other Thing that is Matter of Consolation to you and that in Defiance to all the Efforts of your Enemies must encourage you to hope for the Immortality of Cartesianism is the uncontroulable Liberty that 's left to every one of Writing for and against it And that at this Day the most Solid and Ingenious Patron of the New Philosophy is a celebrated Father of the Oratory whose Books are in great Reputation He forthwith requir'd his Name and Character He is call'd said I Father Malebranche He 's a Man of an extraordinary piercing Judgment of profound Thought that has a wonderful Gift at methodizing his Reflections which he opens and displays in the neatest and most lively manner imaginable that knows however to give an Air of Truth and a probable Turn to the most extraordinary and abstracted Notions that is skill'd to the utmost Perfection in preparing the Mind of his Reader and interessing him in his own Thoughts In short he is the most charming Cartesian that I know His principal Work is called The Search of Truth and it is from that in particular that he hath been acknowledg'd for such as I have describ'd him Yet I cannot conceal from you a little Accident that may somewhat allay the Joy that News must excite in you which is That this Illustrious Champion of the New Philosophy has been sometime since at Variance with M. Arnauld whose Friend he had ever been before which made a kind of Civil War The Onset and Defence on both Sides is manag'd with Vigor and Courage each of them combate in their own way Volumes of five or six hundred Pages apiece are sent out by M. Arnauld in the turning of an Hand The other is less luxuriant but more strict and pressing He takes those Captains for his Precedent who only make use of some select Troops without any regard to Number that always march close and in good Order who let the Enemy wheel about as often as they please but are sure to break their Ranks whenever they see an Advantage Discourse is various concerning the Motives of that War M. Arnauld is the Aggressor The most refin'd Politicians who as you know never fail to make the best of their Talent on such Occasions say It is a Trick and Evasion of the Old Doctor who has several other such at command Some Years ago there appear'd two Books against him one was titul'd The Spirit of M. Arnauld wrote by a French Protestant Minister retir'd to Holland that 's a very roguish Book I must confess and full of Venom and Gall but he leaves M. Arnauld inextricably in the Briars he not only turns his own Weapons upon him but also against the Catholick Religion and concludes directly from the Principles and Practice of M. Arnauld that most of the Arguments he takes to be most forcible and Advantagious to the Catholick Religion are nul and insignificant are meer Shew and Out-side fit only to dazle the Eyes of the Ignorant and such as cannot penetrate to the Bottom of Things The other Book which was printed the first of the two but was not made publick till some time after was written by a Iesuite against a French Translation of the New Testament commonly call'd The Mons New Testament done by the Gentlemen du Port Royal and whereof M. Arnauld took upon him the Patronage and Defence That Book of the Jesuite is Solidly Scholar-like and Politely wrote He very pertinently comes over M. Arnauld on many Occasions and adds from time to time in those Places he challenges him to give an Answer to such and such a Point Notwithstanding those two Books found no Reply and no one could say they were unanswer'd because they were despised and did not deserve the Pains Religion it self was ingag'd that Answer
A VOYAGE TO The World OF CARTESIUS Written Originally in French and now Translated into English LONDON Printed and sold by Thomas Bennet at the Half Moon in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. To my Friend IAMES LVDFORD OF ANSELY Esq SIR THO' all my Services and Respects necessarily devolve on you as on the Inheriter of your Brothers Interests yet you may lay a more immediate Claim to my Esteem and Observance from your own repeated Favours and Obligations In so much that I am bound by a double Tye of Gratitude on all Occasions to manifest my Resentments of them and think my self unworthy privately to enjoy the Happiness unless I declare to the World how much I am Oblig'd to you You must needs Sir think me sincere in my Intentions when upon making so small and insignificant a Payment I am willing to call the Publick to witness I am infinitely still your Debtor I confess the opportunity I have had of improving my Talent by the Advantage of your Brothers Tuition and Instructions might you may justly think have inabled me to offer you an Original instead of a Translation and the Transcribing his Character and Sense might rather have been expected than my Authors But for my Apology I must plead my Vnhappiness in the loss of him which yet is no more peculiar to me than to the whole Society of Magdalen-College whereof he was a Member He is there remembred as a Person in whom the Scholar and Gentleman were so well met that neither of them spoil'd the other He was Learn'd without Arrogance Genteel without Vanity Witty without Affectation Well bred Airy Gay and Easy yet never relax'd his Mind so far as to abate in any part of its real Improvement And though to instance the Graces and extraordinary Endowments of his Body would be thought perhaps to derogate from those of his Mind and to make the Lustre of his Vertues stand indebted to his Person yet I can not but think so curious an Habitation was design'd to answer the Merit of the Inhabitant whose outward Structure should represent the Quality of the Owner But I do not mean to inlarge on his Character for that is Work that must be wrought extreamly Fine or methinks 't is Nauseous even on the Dead and whatever I may pretend to the contrary will look more like a Complement to your self than Iustice to his Memory The little I have said will suffice I hope to shew that what I here offer you is not altogether unsuitable to his or your Genius wherein Philosophy is divested of the Stiffness and Morosness of the Schools and has assum'd the Garb and Air of a more Ingenuous Education than ordinary Here is something Sir that will entertain your Philosophical Minutes and something that will quicken those design'd for your Diversion and all so mixt and temper'd that the Author seems still to have kept his Eye on those two main ends Pleasing and Instructing Philosophy by this Method is become a la mode amongst the Women of greatest Quality in France who pride themselves more in being accounted Partisans of a Sect than Leaders in Dress and Fashion And we may presume that the Power and Force of Imitation will reach the Minds of our English Ladies when Learning shall be set off with the Allurements and Delight they meet with in reading a Romance To provoke them therefore I have adventur'd upon this Translation notwithstanding the Prohibition of French Commodities But it is not from their Iudgments I expect the Approbation of my Endeavours My chief Design was to please you And if I shall in the least succeed in that Attempt it will be abundant Honour and Satisfaction to Sir Your most oblig'd and most humble Servant T. Taylor Magd. Coll. Oxon. May 7. 1692. ADVERTISEMENT OF THE AUTHOR IT is almost three years since this Book was in a capacity of appearing and if it were of any Concern to convince the World of this it might be done by the Testimony of Persons unsuspected in this Affair and such as would merit Credit when they determin'd it in favour of the Author The Reader may perceive it in two or three places that have some reference to those times which were not thought necessary to be alter'd Such is the War betwixt M. Arnauld and Malebranche Father of the Oratory of which there is an account given without any mention of the Cessation of Arms or any pretence of a Truce which hath been since concluded But it may be presum'd not amiss to advise such as think themselves not obligd to so exact an Inquiry into things of that Nature that the Map of the Moon whose Hemisphere is describ'd at large in the Voyage to the World of Descartes is no new thing and that Plâ—to Aristotle Gassendus Mersennus c. are not Inhabitants of those Lands and Countries lately discover'd in that vast Continent nor of those wherewith the Author of this Book hath inlarg'd the Map Our Astronomers have been acquainted with those places long ago and have establish'd Principalities on behalf of those great Men whose Names they bear This may be seen in the Almagestus of Ricciolus and in many other Mathematicians who write Observations on the Eclipses of the Moon Some may be farther inquisitive to demand why Father Mersennus had the Honour to be made Cartesius his Partner in the framing of his World rather than so many other famous Cartesians he might have made choise of To which I return that Father Mersennus had the Preference not only on the account of the particular Esteem and Love Cartesius as well as other excellent Philosophers of his time had for him but because he was the almost only Gentleman that was in a condition to be an Assistant in that great Enterprize when he began it the other Ingenious Cartesians having not left our World till after him A General View Of the whole WORK LUCIAN in his Entry upon his true History hath taken the most advantagious Method that possibly could be thought on He proclaims forthwith to his Reader that whatever he shall say is false After which giving his Imagination swing he loads the Paper with all the Extravagancies his Fancy can supply him with By this means he secures himself from that grand Concern which attends all sorts of Composition and consists in preserving probability in the Narration an Obligation otherwise indispensable to every Writer that pretends to give Relations The worst of that Exordium is it cannot be made use of twice and that it begins to be Thred-bare as soon as it ceases to be intirely new It is a Liberty the Publick would never pardon in any one but him that had the good fortune first to light upon it A gentile turn that no one can imitate without passing for a Plagiary and a Grace of Wit that admits of nothing surprizing or agreeable in a second Indeavour That Consideration joyn'd with the difficulty which may be easily guess'd I had to
should be made the first as hath since been done by another Hand and M. Arnauld's Honour and Reputation were interess'd to satisfy the Scruples the Evidence of Fact and the Force of Reasons in the second had rais'd in the Minds of Men. See then what was the sense of the Politicians of the Commonwealth of Learning 'T is known by long Experience that M. Arnauld never us'd to be very Dormant in the case of Books wrote against him Whence then proceeds this extraordinary Patience he would fain seem to have at present Whence comes it that instead of defending himself against his Enemies that make voluntary Insults to attack him and fall so foully on him he makes himself new Adversaries and out of a gayety of Humour falls to Daggers-drawing with his Friends and Allies whilst his Country is abandon'd to the Pillage and Descretion of his Enemies Here is say they the short and the long of the Business Those two Books Non-plus M. Arnauld The first upon several Articles presents you with an Argumentum ad Hominem and is beyond Reply The second is penn'd with that Circumspection and Exactness as Wards off all Passes gives not the least hold and blocks up all the out-lets where ere his Adversary might escape him It would be no part of Prudence to engage on so disadvantagious Terms He must not however be seen to baulk or decline the Challenge and besides M. Arnauld had resolv'd to leave the World whenever he desisted to make a noise in it and to Write and Dispute whatever it cost him Therefore he cunningly procures himself a Diversion He picks a random Quarrel with Father Malebranche threatning an Attack on a Treatise of his concerning Nature and Grace which he had presum'd to publish contrary to his Advice He compiles a great Volume against two or three Chapters of the Research of Truth That Book is answered M. Arnauld thereupon makes his Reply Father Malebranche charges again M. Arnauld makes yet another Onset Here some are inquisitive why M. Arnauld neglects to answer both M. Iurieu and the Iesuite Hey day cry others how would you have him answer them Does not Father Malebranche find him his Hands full Whose little Volumes he 's forc'd to overwhelm with bulky Books to obstruct the entrance of that monstrous Impiety into the Church viz. the Doctrin of a Corporeal God Without which no Man can find out what he means by his intelligible Extension that is he says in God However the other Concern is urgent and requires Dispatch But what would you have a Man do they add Is it possible he should be every where at once Whilst the King of Poland march'd with all the Forces of his Kingdom to raise the Siege of Vienna was he not necessitated to suffer the Garrison of Kaminiec to over-run Podolia and the Tartars to inslave Vâ—raine If that Conjecture is not true said M. Descartes it is however very probable and those Gamesters play the Politician not amiss But what pursu'd he is the Subject of Dispute betwixt those two famous Authors For I assure you I perceive a Concern upon me upon their Account The Matter in Debate I answer'd is of the Nature of Ideas and the manner of our apprehending Objects that are without us M. Arnauld would have it that our Idea's are nothing but the Modifications of our Soul Father Malebranche pretends that that Opinion is unwarrantable and maintains we have no other perception of Objects than in God who being every where is intimately united with our Soul and who following the general Laws of the Union of the Body and Soul communicates to us the Idea of the Object that he hath in himself and at once makes us apprehend the Impression of it Both one and the other strive upon occasion to ingage you on their side or to shew rather that they advance nothing contradictory to your Thoughts upon Ideas But I am of Opinion you never penetrated so deep in that Affair as that either of them can gain much by your Authority What you say of me is true reply'd M. Descartes but which at last of these two Combatants have got the better on 't I answer'd him I was not rash and inconsiderate enough to set up for a Decider of the Difference and Advantages of those two Hero's That I could only say that they fell to 't in earnest That though M. Arnauld had propos'd to himself the encountring Father Malebranche's Tract of Nature and of Grace he thought it advisable to begin with the Confutation of what he had written touching Idea's in his Search of Truth looking on that past to use his Thought and his Expression as 〈◊〉 Outworks of the place he had a Design to ruin That the Subject being very Abstracted and Metaphysical and above the ordinary Capacity of Men and Father Malebranche's System on that Particular requiring a very great Attention to comprehend it M. Arnauld seem'd to have taken designedly that Method of Assault for the making a more advantagious Effort on his Adversary but that Father Malebranche without giving up his Out-works wherein he acquit himself admirably well had drawn them into the Body of the place that is to say had incorporated them with the Interests of Grace which is very disadvantagious Ground and too slippery a stand for M. Arnauld where he was very closely press'd Yet that I durst not undertake for the Success of Father Malebranche's Self on that Side because of the great Experience of M. Arnauld in such sort of War wherein he undoubtedly merits the Encomium Admiral Chatillon used to give himself viz. He had wherewith to be distinguish'd from the greatest Captains that ever were in that having been always beaten by his Enemies having lost all the Battles he had been oblig'd to Fight after all his Misfortunes he still stood upon his Legs in a capacity to relieve his Party and bearing still a Part and Figure able to disquiet those by whom he had been worsted I might likewise add without affronting Father Malebranche he is already sensible of the loss he has sustain'd since that first Breach For before that unhappiness and whilst he was a Friend of M. Arnauld he was every where extoll'd for a sublime and infinitely penetrating Genius and at present he 's a Man that speaks nothing but Perple it 〈◊〉 and Contradictions whom one can neither understand nor follow without danger of Error So true it is that M. Arnauld's Friendship is at this day as it ever has been a prodigious bank of Merit to those that are so fortunate to injoy it and that Societies no less than particular Persons that were destitute of that Advantage would be very little better for their Reputation As I was thus entertaining Discourse with M. Descartes I perceiv'd in an Instant a change in me that carry'd something in it much like what we experience in some sudden Faintings wherein all things seem to alter and turn colour I could never have
that have formerly appear'd in the Heavens now disappear What 's become of the seventh Pleiade and of that seen the last Age in the Constellation of Cassiope And supposing any one since its ceasing to appear should bring his Action against Tyco Brahe and others that observ'd it as false Intelligencers that abus'd the credulous World do you think it would not be thrown out And does not M. Descartes himself give us to apprehend that our Vortex infinitely greater than the Sphere of Fire shall be sometime swallow'd up when one least thinks on 't And when by that Absorption the Sun shall become an Earth and perhaps at once the subtil Matter which is confâ—â—'d in the Centre of our Earth forcing its Passage througâ— the Crusts that cover it shall make that a Sun granting that the Books of M. Descartes existed in another Vortex where are Men would not they look on all he has wrote of our World as Fabulous and Romantick However granting that there never was a Sphere of Fire it was ever admirably suppos'd Never was System more exactly contriv'd than Aristotle's of the Elements They all are rang'd according to the Dignity or Meanness of their Nature The Earth as the most unactive and ignoble Element has the lowest Seat The Water less course and heavy than the Earth takes place above it The Air by reason of its Subtilty is exalted higher than the Water And the Fire the most noble and most vigorous of them all owns no Superior but the Stars and the subtil Matter in which swim the Planets The extent of each is likewise proportion'd to the Merit of their Nature Like Brethren they have divided the Estate of the four Qualities each of them has two one of which in the Superlative Degree The Earth is cold and dry the Water is cold and moist the Air is hot and moist the Fire is hot and dry And to the end they may bear up still in the perpetual Combats they give each other if the prevaling Quality of one 's more active the predominant Quality of the others put them in a good posture of Defence against the effort of their Enemy Could any thing be more justly or ingeniously imagin'd In fine with how many fine Thoughts has that Sphere of Fire and that orderly Disposition of the Elements furnished our Preachers heretofore and still supplies those of Italy But to mention something better in its kind that one Devise of Father le Moine of which the Sphere of Fire is the Substance deserves there had been one and would deserve there should be one still and that it should endure for ever Designing to signifie the more pure are Friendships the more durable they are he painted the Sphere of Fire with this Spanish Motto Eterno porque Puro This Fire 's Eternal because it 's pure What an unhappiness it is that that Thought so fine and solid as it is all over should at last be false for want of a Sphere of Fire Thus I was defending as well as I could the Peripatetick Interest whilst we arriv'd at the Globe of the Moon I shall not be tedious in giving a large Description of it since others have don 't before me I will only say that the Earth look't to us that view'd it from the Moon as the Moon appears to those that view it from the Earth with this difference that the Earth seem'd bigger far because it really is so So we judg'd that the Earth in respect of those that beheld it from the Moon had the same Phases as the Moon in regard of those that behold it from the Earth that it had its Quadratures its Oppositions its Conjunctions except that it could never be totally Eclips'd by the reason of its greatness in comparison of the Moon whose Shade could not have a Diameter so large as the Earth then in Conjunction The Moon is a Mass of Matter much like that of which the Earth is compos'd There you have Fields and Forests Seas and Rivers I saw no Animals indeed but I am of Opinion if there were some transported they would thrive and probably multiply Empire de la Luâ—e 'T is false that there are Men there as Cyrano reports but 't was undesignedly that he deceiv'd us having first been deceiv'd himself One of the separate Souls which we found in great Multitudes and which were there at his Arrival told me the Original of that Error A great Company of Souls surpriz'd to see a Man with his Body in a Land where the like was never seen before had a mind to know the meaning of it They agreed together to appear in Human Shape to him They accost him and enquire by what Method he accomplish'd so great a Voyage Made him relate what he knew of our World and as he seem'd equally inquisitive as to the Transactions of the World of the Moon and the Life the Inhabitants led there the Familiar Spirit of Socrates who was among the rest took upon him to answer And having declar'd who he was as that Historian himself relates he made him upon the Spot a Fantastical System of the Republick and Society which is the same he gives us in his Relation where he seriously tells us There are Men in the Moon characters their Humour describes their Employments their Customs and Government But 't is worth the knowing that some â—opperies he has inserted he brought not from that Country as the Soul assur'd me and that many Profane Allusions and Libertine Reflections he there makes were only the Fruits of a debauch'd Imagination and a corrupt Mind such as was that Historians or of the Imitation of an Author yet more Atheistical than himself I mean Lucian one of whose Works was made the Plan to his History of the Moon The Inequalities we found in the Globe of the Moon are partly Isâ—es wherewith the Seas there are pleasantly chequer'd and partly Hills and Vallies in its Continent They belong to several famous Astronomers or Philosophers whose Names they bear and who are the high and mighty States there We landed in Gassendi a Seat extraordinary fine and very apposite and such in a Word as an Abbot like Monsieur Gassendus could make it who wanted for neither Genius Art nor Science and who had no use for his Revenues in gaming treating and living high The Lord of the Mannor was then absent whom we should have been glad to have waited on since we heard that he still continu'd his Civility and Moderation which were his Natural Endowments And though formerly there were some Misunderstandings betwixt him and Cartesius yet he always very obligingly and with a Mark of Distinction entertain'd the Cartesians that came to pay a Visit and especially Father Mersennus who was his peculiar Friend He was a Man that equall'd M. Descartes in capacity of Genius excell'd him in the reach and extent of Science but was less heady and conceited He seem'd somewhat a Pyrrhonist in Natural
What Obligation had you to take up arms against him Monsieur I reply'd I still preserve that Respect that Esteem and Friendship for you which I owe inviolable and I take it for a peculiar favour of Fortune to meet you here to make a fresh Protestation of them And I assure you that I am neither come in quality of a Spy or Enemy but if you please so to receive me of a Voyager 'T was purely curiosity that brought me hither by the way As to the concern of Philosophy I must acknowledge I am a little Sceptical in that Matter and know not at present what I am I am resolv'd to try all Sects before I am determin'd so that you may Sir look upon me as a Man of an uninterested Country and that contrives no Plot or Mischeivous Design against your Commonwealth These Gentlemen indeed are profess'd Carâ—esians but they are Philosophers and Men of Honour and have Esteem for Merit though it be on the contrary side and who hold that Liberty of Conscience in point of Philosophy is the unviolable Charter of all honest well bred Men But I pursued I am highly surpriz'd at the bustle and disturbance in this Country There 's no Spanish Town in Flanders so readily Alarm'd as yours What is' t you so much dread That which we so much dread said he is that Implacable Enemy of our Sovereign your Descartes who when on Earth did all imaginable towards the extirpating the Peripateticks and only desisted there as we are from good Hands inform'd to come to ruin them in this Country It is now more than thirty years so exact a Guard has been observ'd to prevent a Surprize consequent to the Advice we have had that in all this time he hath been forming a Party and gathering all the Forces possible in order to a Descent This is the Intelligence we have receiv'd from a Dutch Professor of Philosophy who acts here as Generalissimo in Aristotle's Absence But Descartes may come as soon as he pleases you see we are in a capacity to receive him Well Monsieur said I if that be all you may sleep secure Monsieur Descartes I assure you has no Design of an Invasion in his Head he 's a thousand Times farther off this Place than 't is from hence to Earth he is thinking of Building a New World above the Heavens he has invited us to see the Execution of his Grand Design and thither 't is we are going And to convince you of the Truth of what I say 't is but deputing when we part some Souls to bear us Company and they shall bring you an account of what they there shall see You rejoyce me mightily said he for we Peripateticks are tired with these long Fatigues but take it not ill that I execute my Orders and conduct you to the Governour of the Place according to the Custom That all Philosophers of a different Sect from ours arriving here give him an account what Project brought them hither we have used this Course but since Descartes has given us these Alarms So we took the Road that led to the Place convoyed with a Detachment of about fifty Souls Academiques for the most part and Collegians who look'd as if they did not wish us very well that Place was only a great Garden that represented the Lyceum in Athens where Aristotle used to teach his Scholars walking whence they derived the Name of Peripateticks 'T is of a great extent and very finely kept it is cut into abundance of Allies whereof the four greatest meet in the middle of the Garden at a round large Fountain whereon is raised a stately Pedestal of the most delicate Marble I ever saw on which stands the Statue of Alxander the Great crowned by Victory with Lawrels trampling under Foot Scepters and Crowns and Bucklers and broken Arms and the Treasures of Asia Four great Statues chained to the four Corners represent the Principal Nations Alexander conquered I found that Monument so like that of the Place des Victoires that I should have believed one had been the Pattern to the other had not I at the same Time made Reflection that the near Resemblance of those two Hero's might easily have furnished the Minds of both the Undertakers with the same Ideas All the Figures of the Monument no less than the other Statues in several Parts of the Garden as those of Philippus Olympias and many other illustrious Personages who formerly honoured Aristoâ—le with their Friendship are of Silver for Silver is very cheap and common in the Globe of the Moon and it is probably for that Reason Chymists who always affect Mystery in their Words call that Metal by the Name of the Moon As we were admiring that noble Monument we were astonished to see all of a sudden four Water-Spouts rise from the four Angles of the Pedestal the largest and the highest that ever were they mounted at least four hundred Poles in heighth and they were brought from a River behind a neighbouring Mountain that was higher than the Wells of Domme in Auvergn over which the Water was carried by the admirable Contrivance of the Old Philosophy that in supposing the Horror of a Vacuum in Nature shew'd how with Pumps to sâ—ing Water infinitely high which Secret is unfortunately lost in our World for since the Time of Galileus we can raise Water no higher than three or four and thirty Foot We saw these Water Spouts on every Side the least of which exceeded the highest Trees that encompassed the Garden From the middle of the Garden we observed four Halls of different Figure and Architecture one at the End of each of the four Alleys We were conducted to the biggest of them which was of exquisite Beauty and Magnificence being of Gold Azure and Precious Stones On both Sides in the Intervals of the Windows was your Imbossed Work of Silver excellently carved but that made a Gallimawâ—ry odd and humerous enough for on one Part on the Right-hand were râ—presented the famous Exploits of Alexander the defeat of Darius near the City Arbela the Attack of Poruâ— his Army the Passage of Granicus and the Taking of the City Tyre On the other were Triumphs of Aristotle over the rest of the Philosophers and the Extravagancies of those that went for Wisemen before his Time The first on the Left-hand exhibits Pythagoras doctrining his Disciples and presenting them with a sort of table-Table-Book wherein among others were written these three Precepts First That they were to hear him full five Years without speaking a Word to contradict him Secondly They must lend an attentive Ear especially in the Night to the Musick and Harmony of the Celestial Spheres which only Wisemen are priviledged to understand And Thirdly they must abstain from eating Beans The Second shews you Democritus laughing with Might and Main and Heraclitus weeping in warm Tears and a Troop of little Children hooping after them as after two Fools In the Third we had Diogenes
awarded them unto him with an universal Consent He hath thought fit to declare himself on the first occasion and to intreat the Publick as also those Gentlemen the new Philosophers to do him Justice in that Particular He protests then to separate his Interest in many Articles from theirs that style themselves his Disciples He declares that in the Questions of the Schools many things go under his Name which are none of his as is for Instance that most Childish Notion of the Horror of a Vacuum That he himself hath certify'd and prov'd by Experience the Pressure of the Air which at this Day is made a Principle in the Physical Expilcation of such Phenomena's as have most alliance to the Question of a Vacuum That he is no ways the Father of an infinite little Beings introduc'd in the School Philosophy That his Writings have often been mis-interpreted and Men have commonly taken for Natural Beings what in his Idea were only Denominaâ—â—ions and Metaphysical Attributes This Calm continu'd he with which I speak after that ungovernable Obstinacy you formerly knew me guilty of might stand for my Credentials as to you in Aristotle's Absence But I will farther add that since you meet him out of the Globe of the Moon he hath dispatch'd an Express in which he gives orders that if you pass'd this way I should not fail to inform you of his Thoughts and Intentions and to let you know that whatever Warmth appear'd in him in his Discourse against Descartes he would notwithstanding gladly hearken to some Accommodation with him Furthermore this is no unpremeditated Resolution The Expedient has been form'd and written long ago and the Fault will not be ours if you do not see it and take upon you the presenting it to Descartes if you so think convenient We return'd we most joyfully accepted it and that we thought our selves happy any ways to contribute to the Reconciliation of the two greatest Philosophers the World has known and the Reunion of two Parties that were at present the only considerable in Europe He took forthwith out of a Cabinet that was at the end of the Hall and where upon handsom Shelves stood a good sight of Books excellently bound and that look'd exactly like Books the new Philosophers have compos'd within this thirty or forty Years and that Aristotle and Voetius had undoubtedly read he took I say from a Cabinet a kind of Memoirs with this Title in Latin Words De Consensu Philosophiae Veteris Novae We have said I an Ingenious Man of our Woâ—ld that has wrote a Book with the same Inscription M. Du Haâ—el I my self have read it he replyed and a Man may easily see by the way it is wrote in the Author is well vers'd in all parts of Philosophy He is a Gentleman unbiassed as to one side or other is throughly acquainted with the Interests of each Party and therefore the fittest Person that I know to mediate in that Affair A preliminary Point is taken from his Preface which is much in the right on 't and whereto Aristotle and Descartes must forthwith accord that the Sect-Leaders of Philophy Neque omnia neque nihil viderunt With that he presented us the Project of Accommodation and desired us to read it at our leisure in our Voyage as also to take with us as we had offered at our Arrival some Aristotelian Souls to accompany us to Descartes's Place of Residence to the end he might know by them what that Philosopher had resolv'd upon the Propositions laid down in that Treaty We thanked him for the Honour he did us in intrusting us with so Important a Negotiation assured him we would do all that lay in us towards the facilitating its Success and after much Expression and Acknowledgment of his Civilities we beg'd his leave we might persue our Voyage since we had a vast way still to go and had spent many Hours in that we had pass'd already He conducted us out of the Lyceum and giving some Instructions to two Souls of the Country that seem'd Spirits of Note and Fashion ordered them to wait on us so made his Conge Designing to run over that whole Hemisphere of the Moon that is oppos'd to our Earth we kept on our Road to the North and leaving Democritus on the left we pass'd through Thales and drove on quite to Zoroaster from whence we made a double towards the West through desert Lands where we saw the ruins of some ancient Towns as of Atlas Cepheus Hermes without meeting Man Woman or Child till we came to the Lake of Dreams on whose Banks we found three separate Spirits with whom we were taken up one Moment in Discourse as we passed along We surprized the two first stoutly Cursing and Banning their Wives they had formerly in the World One of which was that Hermotimus mention'd by Tertullian and Pliny who leaving his Body abed to make a Ramble as his Custom was his Wife that did not love him slipt not the opportunity of calling up her Servants to whom she shewed not without tearing her Hair and playing the Mad-woman the Body of her Husband unsoul'd and breathless and carried the Humour on so well that the Body was burnt according to the custom of the Country before the Soul return'd who was from thenceforth forced to seek another Habitation The other Spirit was a Roman Senator whose Name was Lamia whose Wife had trickt out of the World by the same Project though a little more it had miscarried For as he related it The Soul being retâ—rned to look its Body where 't was left not finding it and seeing the Family Mourning begun to smell how the Matter stood It Posted presently to the place where was built the Funeral Pile to burn the Body and arriv'd there just as the Fire began to seize it The Soul thought it inconvenient to reunite her self with it for fear it might be obliged to be burnt alive she only mov'd its Tongue so as many of the Standers by heard these Words twice distinctly repeated I am not dead I am not dead But seeing the Masters of the Funeral Ceremonies who had undoubtedly received an Item from the Dame unconcerned as ' ere she left it to be burnt and came to fix in the Globe of the Moon The third whom we found two Leagues farther in a ghastly Grot was the famous Iohn Duns Scotus commonly called Scot or the Subtil Doctor He has pass'd for a dead Man unto this day on which Account some have given out most ridiculous Stories and highly disadvantagious to the Reputation of so worthy a Person and which have still been well confuted But the truth is that he is not dead and that having by the subtilty of his Mind found out the Secret so many others have procured his Corps was taken for dead and was buried in the absence of his Soul which took Sanctuary in the Globe of the Moon He was incompass'd by a Croud of
at all changed into the Body of Iesus Christ in the Eucharist but that after the Consecration the Bread still remains in the Host. In order to their Demonstration they demanded of Father Mersennus and the old Gentleman I. Whether by the Principles of Descartes the Matter of all Bodies considered in it self and independently of the different Modifications of its Parts was not of the same Species They answered Yes II. If that which constituted the Specific Difference of Bodies was not according to them the different Configuration the different Situation and the different Motions of the Parts of those Bodies They acknowledged it That supposed said they we 'll evidently prove That the Substance in the Eucharist after its Consecration is nothing else but Bread for the Matter or the Substance which hath the same Configuration of Parts the same Motion and in a Word all the same Modifications that constitute the Essence of Bread is Bread according to the aforesaid Principle But the Substance found in the Dimensions of the Host after the Consecration has all those Modifications and 't is only by the Means of those Modifications we conceive it to have the same Superficies as the Bread taking the Word Superficies in the same Sense Descartes gives it And 't is in vertue of those Modifications that that Superficies makes the same Impressions on our Senses as the Bread did before the Consecration And 't is from the same Reason that it reflects its Light precisely to the same Angles as the Bread That it receives all the same Impulses and the same Determinations of the Matter that pushes it towards the Centre as the Bread That it communicates the same Vibrations to the Nerves of the Tongue as the Bread Therefore the Substance that is in the Space of the Host after the Consecration according to Descartes's Principles has the Form or the Essence of Bread therefore it is Bread which was to be demonstrated And from thence our Catholick Peripateticks concluded It was not without good Ground that Recourse was had to Absolute Accidents in the Explication of that Mystery They made yet one Reflection more upon a Saying Descartes adjoyns to his Explication and which ruines his Answer Notwithstanding says he the Body of Iesus Christ to speak properly is not there as in a Place but Sacramentally For said they What is it for God's sake to be in a Place in proper speaking but entirely to fill a Space to hinder the Passage of other Bodies that present themselves to reflect the Light to be pressed downward to have Motion c. But all this according to Descartes agrees to the Body of Iesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Host. And on the contrary the Notion commonly received of a Sacramental Existence attributes not to a Body in that Capacity all those Properties for none of those that have spoke of the Body of Iesus Christ in the Sacrament have supposed it was that which reflects the Light c. Nay they say the quite contrary So they concluded deriding the Vanity of the Applause M. Descartes assumes to himself in that Place upon the Intelligible Manner wherewith he pretends to have explained that Mystery and upon the Obligations he has laid on the Orthodox Divines for having furnished them with an Opinion more agreeable with Divinity than those usually received Applause as well grounded as the Prophecy he made a little after by which one Day it shall come to pass that as soon as the World shall be reclaimed from the Prejudices of the School all the Opinions of our Old Philosophers and Divines thereupon shall disappear and vanish as Shadows at the Approach of that Light wherewith those Glorious Principles of the New Philosophy shall fill the Minds of all such as know how well to use them For my part I was of Opinion upon hearing Monsieur Descartes so refuted that he had better have stuck to his general Answer be it as bad as it will That he was a Philosopher and not a Divine and that he pretended not to explain the Mysteries of our Religion by the Principles of his Philosophy I was astonished too in that Occurrence That such sort of Answers had the good Luck to meet with no Reply especially having to do with M. Arnauld who would never willingly take the last Blow in Point of Disputes and Books But I am persuaded I have since found the Solution of that Difficulty in a Letter M. Decsartes wrote to a Father of the Oratory a Sorbon Doctor He says speaking of M. Arnauld That his only Judgment as young a Doctor as he was was of more Weight with him than that of half the Ancient Doctors of the Sorbon Was not a Clearing of that nature able to disarm the most incensed Adversary in the World During that Dispute wherein Father Mersennus and the Old Blade thought it unnecessary to keep to Mood and Figure and were content to evade the Objection by much raillery upon Absolute Accidents alledging they ought to be banish'd to the Desert of Scotus to make up his Train and Attendance with all his little Formalities We crossed the Calm Sea and turning short to the Right we passed through Hipparchus Ptolomeus and the Peninsula of the Stars and from thence we cut through the Sea of Clouds We entred into the Demy-Island of Dreams I mentioned in the beginning so called from the little Mansions in the Globe of the Moon inhabited for the most Part with Chymists that are in Pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone having not been able to find it upon Earth and a World of Iudicial Astrologers who still are as great Asses as they were in the other World and spend all their Time in making Almanacks and correcting by exact Supputations the false Horoscopes they made in their Life time Among others we found Cardan who though he was possessed of a good Copy-hold Eastward on the Shoar of the Ocean of Tempests could not yet forbear making frequent Visits of his Brethren of the same Society He passed away his Time but discontentedly having not yet conquered the Shagrin and Melancholy occasioned by that Notable Horoscope of Edward VI. King of England whose most remarkable Fortunes and Adventures he had foretold quite to the Fiftieth Year of his Age who yet had the confounded Luck to die at Fifteen Two other things much of the same Nature entertained his Thoughts in that deep Melancholy The first was the Death of his Son whose Horoscope had proved Faulty he having not foreseen what yet came to pass That he should be executed at Milan in the four and twentieth Year of his Age for poysoning his Wife The other thing was the uncharitable behaviour of Scaliger and Monsieur de Thou in publishing in their Books to all Posterity That he was suffered to dye with Hunger For after all said he to us they are Lyars for were I dead 't was impossible I should be here I must confess that having foretold the
it and devolve upon the Arabian Commentators as on the Creators of that Being all the Railleries and fine Things pretended to be spoke by the new Philosophers on that Chapter But that he was not yet in that Humour the Cartesians having concluded nothing rationally against that System That an Incomplete Substance was no Chimera since the reasonable Soul in Man is undoubtedly so That their grand Axiom brought to demolish Substantial material Forms viz. Whatever is Material is Matter was palpably false as they have been answered an hundred times seeing Motion and Figure which are material Things are notwithstanding devoid of Matter and also that he lookt upon the ordinary Doctrin of Substantial Forms as his true Doctrin Nevertheless adjoyn'd he we shall see what use M. Descartes will make of it and what Advances he will offer on his part When he shall have granted Brutes a Soul the Peripateticks will consider whether they shall recede from some other Point Upon which he brought many Arguments to persuade him to be less hardy and intractable thereupon He represented how that Article of his Philosophy had shockt the whole World That his earnestness and zeal for that Opinion had been excusable if he had been the first Author but it is well known a Spaniard called Pereyra first lit upon that Notion and some were so malicious as to say he had drawn it from the Spaniard's Book before he deduc'd it from his own Principles That he had already gain'd by that Opinion as much Honour as could be expected that it was lookt upon in the World as an Ingenious Paradox on which he and his Disciples had descanted very subtly and had sufficiently plagu'd and tormented the School Philosophers but that the latter and more intelligent sort of Men could not forbear Laughing when they seriously undertook to maintain it as a Truth That 't was known this was the first Effect the Preface to a Book Entituled L' Ame des Betes The Soul of Beasts produced in the Mind of its Readers A Book wrote indeed with a great deal of Wit but wherein the Author too seriously drives at the Conversion of the Philosophers upon that Subject That no one had brought one substantial Reason to destroy the prejudice of all Mankind in that particular That no one had yet demonstrated that a middle Being betwixt Spirit and Matter was a thing impossible That the Promise the Cartesians had made to explain all that we see admirable in Beasts by the sole disposition of the Machine was whimsical and not to be relied on since it never had been put in Practice That when they talked of these Matters in general they sometimes spoke plâ—â—sibly enough but when they descended to Particulars they were either much to be pitied or not endured That the only Idea of the manner of Brutes acting on infinite occasions compared with tâ—at Paradox made it look extravagant That whereas 't was answered that Argument prov'd too much and made for the reasoning of Beasts it must be acknowledged that Instance perplex'd the Philosophers and gave them trouble to get clear off yet after all whatever pain it put them to their Argument lost nothing of its Force and the Instance on the other hand infinitely increased the difficulty For if it be hard to comprehend that Beasts should not have Reason upon seeing them act in so admirable and methodical a manner how much more difficult would it be to deny them bare Perception And lastly for Descartes to give up that point would not be construed to retract having himself declar'd he could not demonstrate that Beasts had not an apprehensive Soul Let. 67. Tom. 1. no more than it could be demonstrated unto him they had After that Aristotle passed to another Point which had some Connexion with the former which was The Essence of the Soul made by M. Descartes to consist in actual Thinking as he makes the Essence of a Body to consist in actual and determinate Extension He tells them That though he has many Scruples as to his Method and Manner whereby he offers to demonstrate the distinction of the Soul and Body and that many People continued dissatisfied a little with the Answers he gave to the Objections of Gassendus and M. Arnauld notwithstanding he would not dispute him that Glory of having said something thereon wholly New and very Ingenious That he is likewise disposed to follow his Opinion touching the Essence of the Soul provided he would satisfy him as to one Difficulty taken from Experience Many Persons said he have made you that Objection That if the Essence of the Soul consisted in actual Thought it were impossible she should exist without thinking and thus it would follow we should have Thought whilst we were in our Mother's Belly You will not scruple in the least that Consequence And as to what 's rejoyned by them that had we constantly Thought whilst we were in that Capacity we must necessarily have remembred some one of those Thoughts at least that we had there You answer The reason of our Non-remembrance is because the Memory consists in certain Traces which being made in the Brain upon thinking of an Object are there preserv'd and that the Brain of Infants is too moist and soft for the preservation of those Traces at least in such a manner as is requisite to cause remembrance But you are pressed upon that Answer Lettr. Tom. 2. for as much as in several places of your Writings you distinguish Memory into two sorts whereof one depends upon the Body and those Tracks or Footsteps impressed upon the Brain and the other which is purely intellectual depends upon the Soul above You also distinguish Notices into two kinds The one that depend upon the Organ and the other Immaterial that are wholly Independent on it Now we can easily apprehend that the disposition of the Brain of an Infant may be in the cause why the Soul recollects not those Thoughts which have their dependence on it but in regard of the Memory wholly intellectual those pure Conceptions those immaterial Notices which are altogether independent on the Organ and the different Plaits or Impresses of the Brain the humidity of the Brain can be of no Moment and we must undoubtedly remember those Thoughts and the Motions of the Will that have pursued them You will say that an Infant in the Mother's Womb is destitute of those pure Notices and of the use of the intellectual Memory Tom. 2. Let. 4. 38. But that is the thing I am asking a sufficient Reason for and of which I should be highly pleas'd to be convinced In effect Voetius had given express Orders to both his Envoys to see that M. Descartes gave a clear Explication of the Point From the Essence of the Soul they proceeded to the Essence of the Body Aristotle entred on that Article with an acknowledgment of an Error he formerly fell into advertising at the same time M.
the Idea represents are not the Perfections of the Idea the only Perfection of the Idea being to represent all those Perfections A Quality that hath nothing of Infinite in it and consequently supposes not an infinite Cause I say that Quality includes nothing of Infinity because the Perfection of an Idea is not measured by the Dignity of the Object that it represents but by the manner wherewith it represents it which being most imperfect in the Case before us cannot be infinite And this single Instance which I subjoyn to all that Descartes's Adversaries have said upon the Matter is sufficient to shew That the Proposition on which is grounded his whose Reasoning will not pass for a Principle of a Demonstration Lastly continued the Chinese Supposing the Reasonings of that Philosopher were not false or sophistical they would scarce merit the Name of Demonstrations in the Subject they proceed upon There never can be Demonstrations of the Existence of a God whilst they are not received as such that is whilst they are not received as convincing Arguments beyond reply the Truth of which is so prevalent as to destroy all contrary Prejudice Now dark and clouded Minds can never be pierc'd by that Metaphysical Subtilty Those of a middle Rank find themselves perplex'd whether by their Prejudices or for want of Penetration most of those of the first and most exalted Order discover in them or think they do discover very knotty Difficulties All this put together makes one general Prejudice on their Consideration that never read them and which might warrant their Prudence to conclude if there were no other Demonstrations of the Existence of God there were certainly noneat all So that my Advice to your Philosopher and his Followers is Not so highly to prefer his Demonstrations before those commonly made use of For if it be true that all others are inevident in comparison of these very mischievus Consequences might be drawn from that Principle against the Existence of a First Being of which the Libertines if I may judge by those of the Empire of China would not fail to make advantage Whether the Spirit that drove on the Cloud on which the Mandarin was horsed and which was one of the grimmest and blackest Devils in all Hell grew sowr'd and uneasie at these Discourses from which Inferences might be drawn very prejudicial to the Interests of the Sabbath or whether the Mandarin was himself in haste and expected to hear nothing new upon that Affair he had no sooner uttered that last Sentence but we saw him on a sudden hurried towards the East with an incredible Swiftness Father Mersennus that stood on Thorns to give him Answer could not forbear following him and kept him Pace for above thirty Degrees He returned to us about a quarter of an Hour after and spoke a little angrily It is strange how the Enemies of Descartes make their Insults and treacherously fall upon us then betake them to their Heels without giving us so much as Time to put our selves in a Posture of Defence and to reply to that noisy Trumpery which they think to put off at the rate of Oracles If the Mandarin no less than Aristotle had rely'd upon their Forces and believed as they pretend their Arguments a Match for Descartes they would not have shrunk when they were to grapple and would at least have tarried the Answer that was to be made them but these are Donquixots of Knight Errants that bravado it by discharging a Pistol in the Air and never stand to it before the Enemy which they make as if they did encounter But in the Time that I have accompanied our Mandarin I have overturned his Ideas He has promised me that this Day twelvemonth he will be again in Mersennus where we shall have a fair and leisurely Conference upon Descartes's Demonstrations then Gentlemen I desire your Company said he and if I do not convince my Gentleman so as to stop his Mouth for the future I 'll commence Peripatetick on the Spot and utterly renounce Cartesianism We promised him to wait on him at that Time But Father said I we have been long upon the Road yet have made no great Progress in our Journey I desire we may dispatch it as soon as possible for I am in fear for my Body and would not for a World it should stay without me above four and twenty Hours With that he looked towards the Earth to see what Hour it was and told me it was but seven Hours since we left France and provided we made no Halts in our way in five Hours at latest we shall arrive in Descartes's World So we left Mersennus and departed from the Moon by the Northside of that Globe we made towards the Starry Heaven with all the Speed we were capable of that is to say in one Minute we compass'd many thousand Leagues It is a prodigious and inconceivable thing the multitude of the Stars a Man can discover from the Earth with the best Glasses but a very inconsiderable Part in respect of those that lie out of Sight We cross'd the Sign Sagittary where I took pleasure in observing the principal Stars that are usually describ'd on the Celestial Globes that Sign resembles an Archer near as much as I resemble an House whereof yoâ— may imagine my two Eyes the Windows my two Arms the Jettings that flank the Main of the Lodgings represenâ—â—d by the rest of my Body Had I a mind to divert my self as Ovid does in his Description of the Chariot of Phaeton I might make a thousand pretty Astronomical Allusions and could create in my Road many new Zodiacks in which a multitude of Animals celebrated in the Fables that some have left behind them upon Earth might take place and have Reparation made for the Wrongs done them by the capriciousness of Poets and Astronomers that have given the Preheminence to others of perhaps not half so great Worth and Magnitude But the Reader may easily imagine to himself all that I shall say no more of the Conferences we had in the rest of our Voyage where I was little more than Auditor The two Peripateticks held a Dispute almost all the way with Father Mersennus and the old Gentleman upon several Points of the New Philosophy but all they said amounted to little more than may be seen in Father de la Grange and other Books that treat of such sort of Things It pleased me to see with what Heat each maintain'd his Party and endeavour'd to draw me over to it but I was satisfy'd in praising first one and then the other without giving up my self to either and only took upon me the Quality of Arbitrator which they seemed by common Consent to award me for the moderating the too great Vehemence and Zeal for the Sect that sometimes transported them a little farther than was allowable Mean while I took notice That Father Mersennus that conducted us made us still leave from Time to
Earnestness and Passion It hath met with the Patronage and Protection of Persons commendable for their Parts Capacity and Politeness but almost all Bodies and Vniversities have rejected it and declared against it Each acted in that as in all things else according to the Principle of Self-interest Some took your Side as apprehending themselves thereby distinguish'd and advancd above the Herd others deny'd it as fearing the diminution of their Credit The Motive and Pretence of both Parties was the Love of Truth and uncorrupt Doctrin The Posture of present Affairs hath almost the same Face still yet if we judge by the Books whether of Philosophy or Medicine brought from England Holland and Germany Cartesianism hath made very considerable Progress in those Parts Scarce once in an Age is printed any Course of Philosophy according to the Method of the Schools and almost all the Works of that Nature that at this Time are publick in France are Physical Tracts that suppose the Principles of the New Philosophy Such Books as treat of an Vniversal of Metaphysical Degrees of Ens Rationis create Fears in the Booksellers Minds they 'll cumber themselves with no more of them and endeavour to rid their Hands of all that they have left at any rate as Merchants do their Stuffs when the Fashion 's over All those Questions heretofore so famous wherewith the Presses have groan'd for almost two hundred Years and that have found Employment for so many Printers are no where heard of but in the Schools of the Publick Professors Out of the Desks there is no talk of the Thomists the Scotists and the Nominals at least there is no Distinction made betwixt them all are numbred in the same Predicament and on the same Side which they call the Old Philosophy to which is oppos'd the Philosophy of Descartes or the New Philosophy You have had the good Fortune with your Lustre to efface all the New Philosophers that have risen both in and since your Time and to make use of a Comparison that bating the Odium of the Subject it is taken form hath nothing in it but what makes for your Renown As in Spain the Name of Lutheran is indifferently given to all Hereticks of whatever Sect or Faction so the Title of Cartesian is attributed to all those that have undertaken to make Refinements in Point of Natural Philosophy I have seen more than one bold Venturer that in full Dispute hath listed Gassendus among your Followers though you was undoubtedly his Junior by several Years And I know a certain College where the Professor durst not speak of Insensible Matter of the Rules of Motion of the Perspicuity of Ideas lest he should be forthwith accused of Cartesianism For the rest excepting in the Exercises of some Honest Religious Persons that doubtless have no ill Design but not having read you would yet assume to themselves the Honour of engaging you that treating you as an Atheist is quite out of Doors as is the making that Proposition a Precedent for your Religion which you advance in the Entrance on your Metaphysicks That we must doubt of every Thing yet some of the finest and clearest Heads do not stick seriously to affirm That the late Conversions of the Huguenots in France have robb'd you of many Disciples for upon their Conviction of the Real Presence of the Sacred Body of I. C. in the Eucharist they confidently assert the Falsity of some of your Principles which they are at a Fault to reconcile with the Reality of that Mystery But no matter all such as have a sound and unprejudic'd Notion of Things though they stand diameter to your Opinions do you Justice and give you an Encomium that seems none of the least which is that they acknowledg you have open'd the Eyes of the Philosophers of our Times to the Discovery of the Rises of their Method in Philosophy by that just and reasonable Reproach of the little Concern they had for the most part to dive to the Bottom of the Things they treat of whether in Metaphysicks or in Physicks and the little Application they bring with them both in framing to themselves and giving their Disciples clear and distinct Ideas of the Things disputed of the Abuse that was made of the subtilty of Mind perverted only to the multiplying Wranglings and trifling Disputes to the inventing of new Equivocal Terms to the confounding rather than enlightning certain abstracted Questions prudently enough introduc'd the Schools for Exercise and an Occasion of Dispute and Emulation to the Minds of Youth but ridiculously made the main Stress and Essentials of Philosophy that from thence had degenerated into an Empty Science compos'd of Words and Terms that signifie nothing The little Observation made upon Experience that is the Mother of Philosophy The implicit Dependence they had on the Sentiment of another often superficially considered and ill understood I can also assure you that kind of Advice though envidiously at first receiv'd has not fail'd of its Effect The Desk-Philosophy has chang'd its Countenance in the principal Colleges of France The most ingenious of the Professors affect to treat of the ordinary Questions and those that are most crabbed with greater Solidity and Method with more Justness and Exactness persuaded that those Questions thus handl'd have a greater Power than is imagined to form a Juvenile Mind if it is capable of it to render it Correct and Just to accustom it insensibly to make those so necessary Abstractions in order to the avoiding Mistakes and Fallacies in the Train of a Reasoning spun through a Discourse in the Examination of a Mathematical Demonstration the Discussion of a Physical Experiment or perhaps a Political Interest or Concern Since when Men are more shy of calling the Proofs they bring for their Opinions Demonstrations they are not so eager to declare War against those that talk otherwise than themselves and that often say the same thing They have learn'd to doubt of certain Axioms that have hitherto been held Sacred and Inviolable and upon Examination have sometimes found them unworthy of so great a Title Occult Qualities are under a Suspicion and a Cloud having lost considerably of their Reputation The Horror of a Vacuum is no where receiv'd but in the Shools where no one will be at the charge of Glass Tubes and certain Instruments which manifestly prove the absurdity of that hackney'd Solution that hath been constantly given to the most curious and extraordinary Phenomena's of Nature All sort of Experiments are daily made That of the Gravity of the Air is try'd a thousand different ways and there is scarce any little Pretender to Physick in the Town but has at his Fingers ends the History of M. Paschal's Experiment Here M. Descartes interrupting me demanded what was that Experiment of M. Paschal I answered it was that made in the year 1648. upon the Well of Domme with Torricelli's Tube Wherein the Quick Silver was observ'd to fall a great
Submission and respect I am capable of that I am with all my Heart and Soul MONSIEUR Your most humble and most obedient Servant and most zealous Disciple The INDEX PART I. THE different Relations given of the World of Cartesius Page 1 The Conversation of the Author with an old Cartesian and the occasion of his Voyage to the World of Cartesius 5 Cartesius his Design of finding out the Secret of the Soul and Body's Vnion as also that of separating and reuniting them when he pleas'd 9 Cartesius his Progress in the Study and Knowledge of Man 10 The Mystery of the union and separation of the Soul and Body found out by Cartesius 16 The use of the Mystery 19 That Cartesius is not dead 25 The Secret of the union and separation of the Body and Soul known long before Cartesius 30 Cartesius retires into the indefinite Spaces and makes preparation for the building of a World there like this of ours 31 The Author is invited by the old Cartesian and the Spirit of Father Mersennus to come to the building of Cartesius his World 37 The Author's discourse with the Soul of Father Mersennus 39 An Explication of the manner of the Apparition of Spirits 42 The adventure of a little Moor-Page to Regius Physitian of Utrecht formerly a Friend but afterwards an Enemy of Cartesius 45 The Author's Soul is separated from his Body by the secret of Cartesius 51 How according to the Principles of Cartesius all Bodily Operations may be perform'd as well in the absence as presence of the Soul 53 PART II. THE setting out of the Author with the old Cartesian and Father Mersennus for the World of Cartesius 56 What the Air is and of what parts it is compos'd 57 Wherein consists the fluidity of liquid Bodies ibid. Motion naturally and of it self is perpetual 61 The falsity of Cartesius's Axiom that there is ever an equal quantity of Motion in the World taking the word Motion according to Cartesius's definition 62 The way that Spirits converse with one another 67 The Travellers meet upon their Road Socrates Plato and Aristotle and upon what occasion 68 Their discourse with those Philosophers with some notable Particulars of their History 71 Aristotle refutes Cartesius his Method and Meditations 79 The old Cartesian and Father Mersennus railly upon the Sphere of Fire that Aristotle imagin'd 86 The Contradictions of Cartesius 89 His Disciples have indeavour'd to smother one of them in the French Translation of his Works 90 A Suit commenc'd formerly against the Cartesians relating to the Sphere of Fire 94 A description of the Globe of the Moon 97 Cyrano de Bergerac banter'd by Socrates his familiar Spirit in the Globe of the Moon 98 The inequalities observ'd in the Moon are partly Seas and partly Lands shar'd among the most famous Mathematicians and Philosophers as they are to be seen in the Maps of that Country ibid. The Traveller's descent into Gassendus and from thence to Mersennus 99 They Traverse the Hemisphere of the Moon that is opposite to our Earth 100 They are deny'd Admission at Plato and why 101 They arrive at Aristotle which they find strictly gâ—â—rded as a Town under Apprehensions of a Siege 102 The Author finds there and knows again his Regent in Philosophy an old Professâ—r of the Vniversity of Paris 103 A Description of the Lyceum of the Moon 105 The old Cartesian likewise remembers Voetius the greatest Enemy Cartesius had in Holland 108 Some particulars of the Life of Cartesius and his Adventures whilst he staid in Holland 109 The Character of Voetius 112 The Travellers Negotiation with Voetius for the re-union of the Peripateticks and Cartesians 119 A Project of Accommodation presented the Travellers by Voetius 122 They continue their Voyage with two Peripatetick-Souls that Voetius had deputed to accompany them to the World of Cartesius ibid. In their Way they light upon the Souls of Hermotimus and Ainia a Roman Pretor and Duns Scotus 123 c. The Dispute of the Peripatetick Souls with Father Mersennus and the old Cartesian concerning absolute Accidents 127 Cartesius his Explication of the Mystery of the Eucharist not Catholick 130 They meet with Cardan in the Globe of the Moon in the Peninsula of Dreams the reason of his Melancholy 132 The Travellers return to Mersennus 133 Their reading the Project of Accommodation given them by Voetius containing a Confutation of a great part of the Cartesian Philosophy 134 Cartesius's Demonstrations of the Existence of a God refuted by a Mandarin of China 158 The Arrival of the Voyagers to the World of Cartesius 172 PART III. CArtesius his Reception of the Travellers 174 The Discourse of the Author with Cartesius concerning the present State and Condition of the Cartesian Philosophy in our World 174 c. Cartesius his Thoughts of that famous Experiment of the Gravity of the Air said to be M. Paschal's whereof Cartesius pretends to be the Author 181 His Sentiments formerly of the Book of Conick Sections said to be wrote by M. Paschal at sixteen Years of Age 182 The Extravagant Praises of M. Paschal's Panegyrists and of the Preface to the Book concerning the equilibration of Liquors 185 Cartesius his Projects for propagating his Philosophy whilst he was in our World 190 How he designed to get the Iesuits on his Side and then the Fathers of the Oratory and M. Arnauld ibid. Decrees of the Congregation of the Oratory against Cartesianism and Jansenism 193 The great Contest betwixt Malbranche Father of the Oratory and M. Arnauld The Character of the former 196 M. Arnanld compar'd with Admiral de Chatillon 201 Cartesius builds his World before the Travellers and as he builds it explains to them the chiefest Points of his System 207 The Confusion of Aristotle's Embassadors 221 The Return of the Travellers and Arrival to our World 238 In what Condition the Author's Soul found his Body she is seated in quality of a Cartesian Soul upon the Pineal Gland of his Brain 239 PART IV. THE Zeal of the Author converted to Cartesianism to promote the Sect and which he expresses in a Letter he wrote to Cartesius after his Return 242 He is much perplexed by the Ingenious Peripateticks 243 The Ordinary Arguments against Cartesius his System propos'd and refuted 244 The Author sometimes sides with Cartesius to refute him more easily 246 Motion of Matter seems not impossible in the Cartesian System 248 A new Method of proving it possible 250 Other Difficulties drawn from Cartesius his own Principles proposed by the Peripateticks to the Author whose solution he desires of Cartesius 259 The first Argument That by the Principles of Cartesius the Sun and Stars may be prov'd opaque Bodies as are the Planets of the Earth 260 Argument 2. That by Cartesius his Principles we could not see the Stars nor the Sun it self 265 Argument 3. That Cartesius his Principles supposed it is impossible for the Earth to have a particular Vortex in the great Vortex of the Sun 276 The Consequence of the preceeding Demonstration in Astronomy and Physicks The Moon could no longer turn about the Earth nor the Satellites of Jupiter about him 287 Heavy Bodies would not descend to the Centre of the Earth but would fall towards the Sun ibid. There would be no flux or reflux of the Sea 289 The General Principle of all the Physical Effects of the lower World quite over-turned 291 Cartesius his Inconstancy concerning the Properties of his Elements 293 The Physical Arguments that are weak against Copernicus touching the Motion of the Earth are strong against the Cartesians 294 Propositions of very great importance in Physicks advanced without Proof and supposed against all Reason by Cartesius 296 The Author importunes Cartesius to send him the Solution of all these Difficulties 297 The END